IPL 2019 Auction: Rajasthan Royals Retain 16 Including Steve Smith

IPL 2019: Steve Smith is set to play the 12th season of IPL after being retained by Rajasthan Royals.

Steve Smith has been retained by Rajasthan Royals and will take part in the IPL in 2019.

(Photo: IPL)

Steve Smith looks set to make his big-ticket comeback at IPL 2019 with Rajasthan Royals electing to retain the currently-suspended Australian cricketer.

Rajasthan released the list of 16 players they retained ahead of the 2019 IPL player auction next month and besides Smith, the other retained players include Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer and Shreyas Gopal.

Smith is an exceptionally talented batsman, who has a huge amount of experience in the IPL. He is really excited to be back performing on the biggest stage in T20 cricket and we are extremely pleased to have him on our side.

Zubin Bharucha, Head of Cricket - Rajasthan Royals

Smith missed the whole of the 2018 season due to his involvement in the ball tampering controversy during Australia’s tour of South Africa in March. While his home board suspended him from international cricket for the next year, he was allowed to play domestic cricket. The IPL Governing Council though took the call to not allow him or David Warner to play the league last year.

Among the players released and returning back to the IPL auction kitty are Australian batsman D’Arcy Short, along with right-arm fast-medium bowler Ben Laughlin and South African Wicketkeeper-Batsman Heinrich Klaasen. Besides this, the South African fast-medium bowler Dane Paterson and the Chinaman Zahir Khan from Afghanistan along with Dushmantha Chameera from Sri Lanka have also been released.

Among the Indians released is Jaydev Unadkat who was the most expensive Indian player sold at the auction, at Rs 11.50 crore.

Ankit Sharma and Jatin Saxena have also been let go.

Retained Players: Ajinkya Rahane, Krishnappa Gowtham, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Gopal, Aryaman Birla, S Midhun, Prashant Chopra, Stuart Binny, Rahul Tripathi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mahipal Lomror, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Steve Smith, Jofra Archer and Ish Sodhi

Released Players: D’Arcy Short, Ben Laughlin, Heinrich Klaasen, Dane Paterson, Zahir Khan, Dushmantha Chameera, Jaydev Unadkat, Anureet Singh, Ankit Sharma and Jatin Saxena